What I Learned From Tasting Dozens of Ciders
Over the past five years I've tried 48 ciders, and want to share what I learned about the surprising variety of flavors, my personal preferences, and the value of small-batch cider.
Written by: Charlie Murphy
Over the last few years, I have tried dozens of ciders. By July 2026, my “Cider” list in Memolli had grown to 48 cider across 56 review entries. I took photos of the bottles, added ratings and tasting notes, and tried to capture what I liked and disliked about each one.
I never really tried cider before, so the biggest surprise was how different each could be. I expected variations on fizzy apple juice. Instead, I found ciders that reminded me of lemon, strawberry, apricot, pear, sour cherry, grapefruit, rose water, minerals, brine, spices, and sometimes much stranger things. The differences felt more obvious to me than they did when I tried dozens of single-origin coffees.
My rough personal breakdown is 70/20/10: I like about 70% of the ciders, another 20% are excellent, and the remaining 10% are close to undrinkable for me. Most of the ciders I tried were small-batch bottles from Eve’s Cidery, a farm in upstate New York.
Why I started tracking every bottle
I have been part of the Eve’s Cidery cider club for several years. The seasonal bottles are often made from particular apple varieties, orchard blocks, vintages, or small experiments. That makes each shipment of 6 bottles new and fun, but it can be difficult to remember each one.
Without notes, I could usually remember whether I liked a cider, but not which Kingston Black it was, what year I tried it, or why it stood out. A photo of the label, a rating, and a few rough tasting notes solved that problem. The collage at the start of this post shows all 48 ciders I tried. The table below shows every cider, its producer, my average rating, and the tasting notes I recorded.
The 48 ciders I tried
From 56 review entries with an average rating of 3.85 out of 5 stars.
Rating (1–5 stars)
- 1.0–1.49 stars: 0 ciders
- 1.5–1.99 stars: 1 cider
- 2.0–2.49 stars: 4 ciders
- 2.5–2.99 stars: 0 ciders
- 3.0–3.49 stars: 9 ciders
- 3.5–3.99 stars: 5 ciders
- 4.0–4.49 stars: 14 ciders
- 4.5–5.0 stars: 15 ciders
Showing all 48 ciders
| Photo | Cider | Average rating | Producer | Tasting notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Autumn's Gold 2023 | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Dabinett | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Essence | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Harry Master's Jersey | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Mullein #3 | 5.0 | New York Cider Company (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Orchards and Pastures 2022 | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Puget Spice | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Scrappy Dog #6 | 5.0 | New York Cider Company (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Sparkling Perry 2023 | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | The Emerald Necklace | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Tydeman's Early | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Unnamed product | 5.0 | Not recorded |
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 | Virginia Crab | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Wickson | 5.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Golden Russet | 4.5 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Autumn's Gold 2021 | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Candyland Kingston Black | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Dabinet | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Downeast Unfiltered Craft Cider | 4.0 | Downeast Cider House (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Ellis Bitter | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Geneva Tremletts Naturally Sparkling Cider | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Kingston Black | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Naturist #3 | 4.0 | New York Cider Company (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Porter's Perfection | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Porter's Perfection | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Red Flesh | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Sour Cherry Hard Apple Cider | 4.0 | Doc's Cider (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Sparkling Perry - 2022 | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Stembridge Cluster | 4.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Door-County Cherry | 3.67 | Restoration Cider Co. (opens in a new tab) | Not recorded |
 | Emerald Necklace | 3.5 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Monarch #4 | 3.5 | New York Cider Company (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Northern Spy | 3.5 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Stoke Red | 3.5 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Albee Hill | 3.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) | Not recorded |
 | Ashmead's Kernel | 3.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Circle Field Blend | 3.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | CoFerment #5 | 3.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Darling Creek 2022 | 3.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Golden Russet | 3.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Kingston Black - chris lawn | 3.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | the little porcupine | 3.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Yarlington Mill Pet Nat Cider | 3.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | 1911 Black Hard Cider | 2.0 | Beak & Skiff (opens in a new tab) |
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 | CHERRY PET-NAT | 2.0 | COTE FRAICHE (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Coferment #3 | 2.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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 | Porter's Perfection | 2.0 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) | Not recorded |
 | Medaille d'Or | 1.5 | Eve's Cidery (opens in a new tab) |
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Cider was more diverse than I expected
The diversity in flavors was not subtle. Autumn’s Gold 2023 brought to mind flowers, apricot, and apple. Dabinett reminded me of strawberries. Kingston Black was floral and rose-like, while Red Flesh suggested sour cherry and grapefruit rind. Other bottles registered as pear, lemon, honeydew, mineral water, chalk, fruit leather, or baking spice. Some of those notes were immediate. Others only appeared after I smelled the cider a few times, compared impressions with someone else, or came back to the glass later.
The apple varietal plays a main role on the flavor. Eve’s list of cider apple varieties includes names such as Wickson, Ashmead’s Kernel, Dabinett, Golden Russet, Kingston Black, and Porter’s Perfection. Before joining the club, I never heard of any of them. Now they are clues about what a bottle might be like; even though the vintage, orchard, blend, and fermentation style all still play a huge role.
I like cider dry, tart, and refreshing
I learned that I clearly prefer ciders that are dry, tart, and refreshing. I also like them to have a full body and some mineral or briny character. That combination is not common in the bottles I tried, but it is what I look for now. Wickson is the best example, which is an apple variety and a cider that Eve’s has made once or twice. It is hands down my favorite cider so far. It was tart, briny, a little sweet, lemony, and refreshing. A later Wickson that Eve’s Cidery produced was similar, but reminded me more of Granny Smith apple rather than biting into a lemon. Virginia Crab is similar, with sour, tart, mineral flavors and just a little bitterness. Mullein #3 from New York Cider Company also landed squarely in my preferred zone: tart, briny, slightly funky, pear-like, and refreshing.
Ciders that I disliked were often too bitter and tannic; to the point that they developed an acrid, heavy mouthfeel. Those were the bottles where I considered dumping the rest. Excessive funk, sulfur, or a harsh wine-like character could have the same effect.
A bottle can be a one-time experience
Over time, I started to value the uniqueness of each bottle. A small-batch cider may come from a particular harvest, orchard, apple, or experiment that is never repeated in quite the same way. Once the bottle is empty, that may be the only time I ever experience its exact flavors and aromas.
That is different from the goal of many mass-market drinks, where consistency is part of the value. I do not think one approach is always better. When I am traveling, I usually go to Starbucks because I know what I am getting. Whereas, if I try a new coffee shop, the coffee could either be great or taste like burnt water. I made a similar point in my post about what I learned from single-origin coffee: reliability can be satisfying too.
Supporting the kind of world I want to live in
There is another reason I have stayed in the Eve’s cider club: I like supporting a small farm and an independent business. I would rather live in a world with many small businesses growing unusual apples, trying ideas, and making products that do not need to taste exactly the same every year.
If you want to learn your own preferences without writing public reviews, try Memolli for free. Add a photo, a rating, the apple variety, and a few words that only need to make sense to you.